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Credit: DisneyAlmost four years after the 2020 libel trial, which brought about the end of Johnny Depp’s career, a key party has deemed their involvement a mistake. This surprising update comes as Disney seemingly wrestles with whether to bring Depp back into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
After Justice Andrew Nicol sided with The Sun and News Group Newspapers LTD against actor Johnny Depp in the 2020 libel trial, Depp’s sparkling Hollywood career was over. Warner Bros. asked the star to resign from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Harry Potter spinoff franchise, Fantastic Beasts. His part was eventually recast with Mads Mikkelsen in what became the final chapter of the series Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022).
In a similar fashion, Depp was excised from his beloved Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, where he originated his most commercial role to date, Captain Jack Sparrow. After appearing as the beloved character for 14 years, Depp’s last appearance as Captain Jack came in 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
The 2020 libel trial acted as a catalyst for the downfall of Depp’s career and thrust him into another sort of limelight–the one that comes when two high-profile public figures go head-to-head in the courtroom. While Amber Heard, Depp’s former wife, was not the defendant in Depp’s libel case, her testimony was pertinent considering the trial came about following allegations of domestic violence in Depp and Heard’s relationship.
For context, shortly after marrying in 2015, Heard filed for divorce from Depp and cited that he had been physically and verbally violent during their relationship. These allegations sparked Dan Wootton, then executive editor of The Sun newspaper in the United Kingdom, to publish a story titled “GONE POTTY How Can J.K. Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?” in April 2018.
Months later, in June, Depp sued The Sun, parent company News Group Newspapers LTD, and Dan Wootton for libel and said that Heard had been the perpetrator of domestic abuse in the relationship. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the libel case took place in July 2020 instead of March. By November, Justice Andrew Nicol decided that 12 of the 14 counts of domestic violence were substantially true. Depp’s appeal request in November of the same year was rejected.
Now, though, the catalyst of the libel trial–that is, Dan Wootton and the article that he wrote for The Sun back in 2018–has revealed surprising new thoughts on the matter, deeming his involvement a “mistake.”
Related: Disney Pays Johnny Depp $68 Million for Seven-Minute Performance Following ‘Pirates’ Success
Taking to his new platform, Dan Wootton Outspoken, the broadcaster and journalist shared his views on the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard legal battles.
“With five years of hindsight and a changed personal outlook thanks to my own [Mainstream Media] cancellation, I now admit that I should never have got involved in the carnival of commentary on the catastrophic breakdown of Johnny’s relationship,” said Wootton.
“Amber is, I believe, a misunderstood woman, who never wanted to be dragged through two personally costly and, in the case of the US, reputationally devastating court cases,” he continued. “I got to know her a little after our careers became surprisingly intertwined and, even though our politics couldn’t be more different, believe the public perception of her is wrong.”
Since the ousting of Depp from major franchises like The Wizarding World and Pirates of the Caribbean, Depp’s support has only grown, and it would reach fever-pitch when he returned to the courtroom in 2022 to challenge Amber Heard in a defamation case sparked by her opinion essay in The Washington Post titled “Amber Heard: I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
The 2022 defamation case saw the jury side mainly with Depp, although both Depp and Heard were found guilty of defaming the other. 2024, however, has brought new allegations towards Depp with Blow (2001) star Lola Glaudini, stating that her time on set with Johnny Depp bordered on verbal abuse. A crewmember has since contested Glaudini’s claims that a verbal blowup ever happened on the film set.
Since the two years of trials, Depp and Heard have been left largely out of the Hollywood spotlight. The closest that came to a blockbuster movie was Heard’s role as Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), although her part was majorly reduced. As for Depp, he is yet to return to any mainstream movie, having appeared in just Jeanne du Barry (2023), which opened at the Cannes Film Festival last year and gained its U.S. release this year.
Despite saying he wouldn’t return to Disney for $300 million and one million alpacas, whispers of Depp’s involvement in a future Pirates of the Caribbean 6 are getting louder. Disney said last year that they remain non-committal on Depp, but recently, a rumor floated suggesting that the House of Mouse was looking for Depp to play a supporting role in the feature.
Related: Johnny Depp’s Confidential ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Role Reported to Convert Career
With producer Jerry Bruckheimer saying he would love to work with Depp again, Margot Robbie’s movie seemingly dead in the water, and The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri apparently cast as a lead character called Anne in a future installment, there is definitely something stirring in the deep.
Do you think something should change now that Dan Wootton has apologized for getting involved in the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard situation? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!